Open Source Software for Sensor Hub Applications from Sensor Platforms and ARM

Published on April 9, 2014 at 8:15 AM

Sensor Platforms, a leading provider of algorithmic sensor software for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, together with ARM, the world’s leading semiconductor intellectual property supplier, announce the introduction of the world’s first open source software for sensor hub applications.

The software, called Open Sensor Platform (OSP), will simplify the integration of sensors across multiple applications, and provide a flexible framework for more sophisticated interpretation and analysis of sensor data.

The integration of sensors into smartphones, wearables and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices is driving an exponential increase in the volumes of data created. Sensor Platforms is providing this embedded framework specifically for sensor data acquisition, communication, and interpretation. OSP has been designed for the ARM® architecture which is pervasive in sensor hub applications because of the low-power capabilities, simplicity of integration, and broad ecosystem.

“Until now, the use of sensors and sensor hubs in mobile devices has been fragmented and ad hoc,” said Jim Steele, Vice President of Engineering, Sensor Platforms Inc. "OSP encourages developers to focus on creating innovative applications for sensors rather than reinventing the wheel for each sensor interface. It also enables OEMs to provide context-awareness to the Android HAL, which is important for the always-on demands of Android KitKat and Android Wear."

“Contextual, sensing information is becoming more important as end devices for the Internet-of-Things rapidly proliferate,” said Charlene Marini, Vice President of Marketing, Embedded Segment, ARM. “As an open source platform for sensor fusion fundamentals, OSP will enable a community of developers to accelerate new functionality for ongoing innovation in sensor hubs across applications. As a result, we should see devices and applications that are more aware of their user and their environment, making technology more useful for all.”

OSP developers will also be able to take advantage of higher-level sensor interpretation such as that available through Sensor Platforms’ own FreeMotionTM Libraries that provide robust sensor fusion, always-on context awareness, and Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR).

OSP will be open sourced under Apache License, Version 2.0, and will actively manage and incorporate community contributions. The initial source code release, supporting documentation, and forum support will be available at GitHub.com on or before May 12th.